Remember all those movies from the 1970s through the ’90s that you once collected on VHS tape? Do you even remember VHS tape? If you do, and you haven’t thrown them out yet, now you can, along with your old recorder.

The Rewind channel is here to bring back the videotaped cinematic heyday of Generation X.

The new “classic” movie channel debuts Saturday, Dec. 1 with a 60-day free preview on most major cable providers.

Parent company Channel Zero, which also owns CHCH and the similarly movie-based Silver Screen Classics, announced the launch Wednesday with a party at the Hard Rock Café, featuring celebrity impersonator clones of Johnny Depp, Cher and the Blues Brothers.

Outside the Hard Rock, in Yonge-Dundas Square, they underscored the new channel’s VHS-themed branding with a giant inflatable video recorder and accompanying oversized cassette. An outdoor viewing lounge was set up and passersby offered bags of popcorn.

The obsolete inflatables also announced an environmental initiative, Rewind Your VCR Day, scheduled for Jan. 5, 2013. The public in major markets Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal are invited to drop off their old VCRs for environmentally friendly disposal, with the Rewind channel donating $25 for each to the World Wildlife Fund.

Participants are also invited to fill out an entry for a $2,000 cash prize, one per city.

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